Rather than look at raw number of internationals enrolled, I think it is more helpful to look at those numbers in terms of percentages. Many seem to enroll about 10%. Some enroll significantly more than 10%. So it could be that the ones which enroll less than 10% are not as international-friendly, and that might be something to factor in when evaluating chances of admission.
When looking at percentages of internationals it’s important to make sure that the college is only counting “resident aliens” in their international figures. Often in profiles or website FAQs, colleges count as “international” American expats who attend high school abroad, students with dual American/other citizenship and/or foreign nationals who are permanent residents of the US. The CDS figures should only cover internationals that need visas to attend school in the US.
To me, the raw numbers say it all. If a school enrolls less than 40 internationals they will typically admit 60 to 80, from the whole world, often 60+ countries including the heavy hitters like Canada, China, India and Korea.
Schools usually don’t have country quotas, but do have general targets by region, e.g., Europe, North Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, Middle East, Central & South America. Out of 80 admits, they may admit about 15 to 20 from Europe. When you breakdown European applicants by race, religion and economic status, the figures get even more miniscule. It’s a very competitive pool, even for full pay applicants.
Wesleyan posts excellent statistics on international students. I wish other schools would do the same.
http://www.wesleyan.edu/admission/informationfor/international.html
(Look under statistics)
In the past ten years, LACs have become increasingly popular among international applicants, partly due to US government initiatives and partly because universities with global name recognition have become even more difficult to get into.
@momrath: That depends on the school. Sarah Lawrence doesn’t have a very low admit rate and admitted roughly 1.5K overall (out of about 3K). A small number of Internationals may end up there, but a small number of Internationals may want to go there.
@donnaleighg How long ago did that happen at Dartmouth?
@PurpleTitan, I’m not sure I understand your point. Actually, I think Sarah Lawrence would be a good likely for most international students. Total enrollment is 13+% non-US citizens, though as you note, we don’t know how many international applicants they get or how many they admit.
LACs that are accessible to major east and west coast cities (and airports) are definitely on the radar of high achieving internationals, especially those who can afford to forego financial aid.
Education USA, a US State Department initiative that promotes American colleges and universities overseas, has done a lot to increase awareness of the concept of small LACs to international students and their parents, and the LACs themselves have stepped up recruiting at international schools (at least that’s been my observation in Asia).
@OutOfKantrol, if you’re not already familiar with Education USA, you might get in touch with them.
https://educationusa.state.gov/
Sounds good (the rural visit).
Whether you stick with urban or head for green pastures, or suburban climes… university or LAC… you have a bunch of outstanding options known for their intellectualism and (in most cases) rigor.
^Agree with Prezbucky. Also, the Yale, Wesleyan, Brown dog leg is not a bad way of dividing up visits: https://www.middletownpress.com/middletown/article/Indiana-Jones-in-Middletown-to-visit-Wesleyan-12735291.php
My friend was just at Brown and was on the same tour as Harrison Ford and his kids.
For those of you wondering, the weekend with my aunt went splendidly and it definitely gave me some very useful insight. On the Saturday she showed me around the town and I’ll admit it felt very tame compared to London and I was feeling like a rural college wasn’t for me. But I had the most amazing Sunday. We went hiking in a local forest (I’m definitely not a sporty person but I do enjoy hiking) and sat down and had a picnic where we just talked for hours about movies and books and politics and everything in between - she did history at Cambridge and we have a lot in common.
To get to the point, I am definitely going to be considering rural colleges. I think John Green summed it up pretty well in a quote from a Kenyon propaganda video: “Gambier is not the world’s largest city; its downtown contains a grocery store, a restaurant, and a bookstore, although, to be fair, books and food will take you a long way in this life.” Combine that with intellectual students, top professors, and challenging classes and you have what I’m looking for in a college. I think I forgot that.
I, of course, understand that this is very likely to change as I learn more and visit the campuses but for those interested so far I’d rank my reach schools like this:
Yale/Columbia
Brown/Chicago/Princeton/Swarthmore
Williams/Pomona
Bowdoin/Middlebury/Tufts/Amherst
Here is a very rough version for my matches:
Reed/Wesleyan/Carleton
Wellesley/Haverford
William & Mary/Barnard/Kenyon/Grinnell/Hamilton
Smith/Macalester/Vassar
Bryn Mawr/Scripps/Brandeis/Oberlin
And my safeties:
Sarah Lawrence/Mount Holyoke
NCF/Clark
I chalk some colleges being on lower levels to not enough research.
Here are my views on/questions about some of the schools on my list at the moment:
Middlebury – I need to do more research on this one but so far it seems nice. Great academics, especially in my field. Picturesque location. In New England. Is there stellar language department just for modern languages or does that extend to classical languages? Classics is something I’m really interested in. I started teaching myself Ancient Greek when I was nine (I’m a big fan of the Percy Jackson books) and think I am pretty close to fluency (probably need one more language class before going on to literature) - I can read things like Homer and Euripides (though I sometimes need a dictionary) but I still struggle with Plato which is written in quite complicated prose. As for Latin, I did it for GCSE and thoroughly enjoyed it and would love to learn more. A great classics department would be a big plus, although I’m sure all schools have a good department. Also, some people have said that the student body is quite homogeneous, though, but I’m not sure how homogeneous it is in comparison to other colleges. Any thoughts?
Bowdoin – Nothing much to say apart from lovely campus in a cute little town. The people seem really friendly and Smith Union looks like an awesome place to hang out. Plus, how cool is a polar bear mascot? It seems they have a high percentage of student athletes and that the student body as a whole generally seems to be quite preppy, though. Does this school carry the intellectualism I desire?
Kenyon – This one is definitely on my list. Although I don’t think it’s as good of a fit on paper as somewhere like Grinnell, as someone as interested in Literature as I am, I really respect a place that appreciates the beauty of books as much as I do. Plus, as I’m sure you can tell from my ECs, I am passionate and dedicated to the art and spirit of writing; I don’t plan on pursuing it as a major or minor, but will definitely be taking multiple creative writing classes in college, and Kenyon seems to be one of the best places to study it - they have a very impressive and exciting course catalogue. But should I be worried about the size of its party/drinking/Greek scene?
Grinnell – I think this one fits me very well on paper. It seems that sports don’t have much of a presence on campus, there isn’t much drinking/party culture, and no Greek life. The students seem really friendly and welcoming but not in an in-your-face kind of way, the open curriculum as well as the students themselves really seem to foster an intellectual environment, the people appear to be quirky and slightly weird so I’m sure I’ll fit right in, and the school just seems to have that Midwestern charm. I am definitely looking into this school and have no qualms so far.
Hamilton – I’ve heard quite a few posters call this school preppy - how true is this? There also doesn’t seem to be much geographic diversity; the majority of students seem to be from NE USA. Is it as intellectual enough to match what I’m looking for? Is there a big drinking culture there? Apart from those worries, I really like this school at the moment but I’m not sure why. Obviously there is the beautiful campus and location, the top notch creative writing department, and unbeatable community feel - it really does seem that the students are one big ‘hamily’. But I just have a warm feeling about it and I was really able to picture myself there almost instantly which I haven’t been able to at most places. However, it is a much weaker fit on paper.
Whitman – I know pretty much nothing about it other than the fact that it is in Walla Walla, WA (did I spell that right?) but I’ve heard quite a few positive comments about it here on CC and was wondering if anyone had anything to say about it? I’m looking for one or two other safety possibilities to consider as right now I only have four: Sarah Lawrence, Clark, Mount Holyoke, and NCF.
One thing that I’ve been thinking about is merit aid. I don’t need it (but 10k off a year couldn’t hurt) and I won’t consider it a turn off for schools like Brown and Yale which don’t offer it but I think I will note down which colleges on my list offer/are generous with merit aid. I know Kenyon, Clark, Oberlin, Grinnell, Macalester, and Scripps do, but where else?
Bowdoin is an elite LAC. #3 in America. Difficult to get into even with the best stats.
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges
@gearmom I am aware of that, hence the reason I classed it as a reach. I’m not sure I see your point.
@OutOfKantrol I think I am reacting your synopsis of Bowdoin. Cute town, friendly students, cool polar bear mascot and student athletes. The students who are admitted there have top Ivy level stats. They will be your carefully selected best and brightest and you’re not sure it will have the intellectualism that you desire?
@OutOfKantrol, congrats on being well prepared for being considered at the top LAC’s you have recently mentioned. That said, your stats are no different than the top-25% of students accepted (a 1550 is the same as a 1580 in the admissions world), so yes they are all intellectual enough for anyone.
As an international applicant your path will be harder, so it will be very important that you show them who you are as a person and how you will make a great contribution to the school, not how intellectual you are - that will go nowhere.
Best wishes in your application process as there are many great LAC’s, but always remember “they pick you, you don’t pick them”.
BTW, the president of Clark University is English.
David Angel.
I don’t think a European can fully appreciate Bowdoin, Middlebury, and Hamilton without understanding that they are members of one of the most competitive Division III athletic leagues in the country (Division III is the most common small college designation sponsored under the national, NCAA, sports auspices.) Should you be so lucky as to be selected to attend, some 40% of your classmates will have been chosen for their ability to run, swim, or row or to propel small cylindrical objects. The same is true for Amherst and Williams, but, their high USNews rankings have been a confounding factor in their broad public perception for some thirty years. None of this, of course, may matter to you; they are on your list of places to visit. But, it would be silly to pretend to ignore it.
@circuitrider propel small cylindrical objects. lol.
@gearmom I have no doubt that Bowdoin students are among the most intelligent in the country, but I think there is a clear difference between an intelligent student body and an intelligent and intellectual student body. I’m looking for some place where you find a dozen students discussing something from a class that only one of them took, some place where the material covered on a test is 10 times more important than the grade written on top, some place where students believe that the most important thing to get out of college is the best education possible compared to the best job possible. I have no doubt that somewhere like Duke has top students, but it is clearly not what I’m looking for in a college; somewhere like Swarthmore is. I get that every college will have students similar to me in what I want out of college, but doesn’t it make more sense to join the majority at UChicago than find the minority at Penn? And I’m asking to what degree does Bowdoin have an intellectual atmosphere like I’m looking for, not whether their students are smart enough for my liking.
Hope that clears it up.
@OutOfKantrol Yes I do understand the difference between being intellectual and intelligent. No I do not think the students will simply be intelligent or at all workmanlike in their approach to schoolwork. These students are coming from the top private schools from families who have a tradition of attending the best schools for generations. The student body has traditional been Brahminesque (but the student body has evolved to also meet the diversity objectives of the school). Educating for the sake of education rather than career development because frankly many haven’t had to hustle in generations.
In response to your question about Whitman and Walla Walla, it’s a great school in a great place for the right student. My son went there and graduated 4 years ago, and I’ve been there numerous times. Walla Walla is a small city in the southeastern corner of Washington State. Even though it is pretty far from a major metropolitan area, it has quite a few charms. There is a booming wine industry and it’s close to a great many outdoor activities, both of which attract a lot of tourists, so the downtown is charming and the restaurants are really good for a small place. The Whitman campus is in the center of town, a couple of blocks from the downtown I mentioned and is really beautiful. There is a lovely meandering creek with many cozy spots to sit and a huge quad called Ankeny Feild where loads things happen and everybody hangs out. Architecturally, it’s very pleasing. Although the town is kind of sleepy at night, the campus is hopping: there are concerts; plays; speakers of all kinds; comics; clubs meetings; parties; etc.The outdoor program facilitates outings of all kinds.
Academics are demanding but the school has a very collaborative feel. Classes are small and the town is small, so the student body becomes close-knit and inclusive. Study groups form easily. professors are totally accessible, and nearly everybody plays intermural sports. All the small schools we visited had personalities, they attracted certain types of students, I’d say Whitman is liberal, gregarious, friendly, outdoorsy and hard working but not competitive or obsessive about it.
I might add that you’ll find the colleges in the western US are less steeped in tradition than those on the east coast. Which may appeal to you or not.